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Fraser Gehrig looks to take home his second consecutive Coleman Medal for most goals kicked in the regular season, sitting at 74 and 5 ahead of Barry Hall with one match left. I found myself thinking, however, that about 80 was a relatively small number of goals for the Coleman Medalist. So I went looking for some stats, and found a mystery that I'm wondering if anybody knows enough history to address. Specifically: where did the 100 goal kickers come from, and where did they go?

Kicking 100 goals is referred to as "kicking a ton". Nobody has done it for a several years now, and it used to be fairly common. But the first ton kickers are the amazing oddity.

The Coleman Medal was introduced in 1955. Over the first 13 years it was won with 54-56 goals three times; it was won with 62-69 goals six times (including 62 in '62); and it was won with 73-79 goals four times. Then, for the five years from '68-'72 the winner had 122-146 goals.

The lowest winning total of that period was 43 goals more than the highest winning total of the 13 years previous. This is similar to Babe Ruth setting a single season home record with 29 one year, and with 50 the next. Was there some change in '68 that suddenly produced a run of huge goal totals? Nobody had come within 20% of a ton, and suddenly 20% more than a ton was the low point!

Collingwood's Peter McKenna took home the Coleman Medal with 130 goals in '72. He won it again in '73, this time kicking 84 goals. While 5 goals more than any pre-'68 winner produced, his 46 goal drop in productivity is pretty significant.

Over the four years '73-'76, the Coleman was won with 84, 91, 67(!), and 99 goals. Looking at it, it appears to be a steady progression from '55 to '76, except for the five year bulge period.

Then, in the 22 years of '77-'98, the Coleman Medal winner kicked a ton 16 times, 91-98 four more times, and 81 & 86 the other two years.

But from '99 forward, the Coleman Medal winner is much closer to 90 goals. Matthew Lloyd's 96 in '01 is the only serious run at kicking a ton since then.

So we have two mysteries. What happened to the game '68-'72 to produce such amazing totals? And what happened in '99 that we now have seven straight years without anybody kicking a ton?